A number of his classmates confirmed this as many were outside, preparing to go home themselves. They noticed only because Adam was usually picked up by his mother. If she wasn’t on time, he waited. He commented to one classmate that his mother didn’t like him walking home from school, although home was well within walking distance. Her rule was she picked him up. Adam always followed the rules. His teacher verified this trait. “Model student” she called him. That day, he walked away without hesitation. He didn’t wait, he didn’t look around for his mother. He simply started walking.

He, also, was not seen again until the discovery of his body this morning.

Though Val would get a better estimate for time of death once she finished her exam, by the condition of the bodies, she guessed they’d been dead only about a day. What had happened to Gabrielle Morgan and her son Adam from the time they disappeared until now? Jesus, what happened right after they left their house? There’s twenty minutes unaccounted for.

Val opened her mouth to speak but before she could say anything, one of the crime scene techs motioned to Officer Powell, and he quickly ran over. Val held her breath as she watched their interaction. Did they find something new? She waited, but then slowly exhaled. It seemed the technicians had finished collecting evidence in the last section of the church and he was asking for directions on where to go, what to do next.

As Val turned her attention back to the bodies, she pulled her wool hat down to cover her ears. Outside, the wind gusted, rattling the windows. Snow was building quickly on the bottom of the sills; about a half inch from the time she’d gotten there, thirty minutes ago. The storm all the news stations predicted had arrived as promised.

It was late January in Clarence, New York, a suburb ten miles east of Buffalo. The temperature had hovered at twenty degrees Fahrenheit throughout the morning but had dropped steadily as the storm approached. Val checked her phone. The outside temperature was now five degrees. No blizzard warnings, yet. She quickly scrolled through her messages. Nothing new. Frustrated, she shoved the phone back in her pocket.

Val glanced at the church door often, anxiously waiting for the homicide detectives to arrive. Where in the hell were they? She’d been postponing her exam until they got there. Mitchell Gavin, who would be the lead homicide detective, had sent her a text right after she walked through the doors of the church. All he said was: “I’ll be there soon. Wait for me before you start.” Something big was going on with this case. She glanced at the bodies again and wasn’t surprised.